Those undead just keep on coming back from the grave as Microsoft screen a new trailer for State Of Decay 3, your latest helping of sorrowful yet bloodthirsty zombie-bopping survivalism. I reviewed State Of Decay the first and thought it was a cool scrappy underdog next to larger zombie-botherers such as Left 4 Dead or DayZ. State Of Decay 2, on the other hand, I found to be disappointing – the same game with more money behind it in a way that seemed to magnify its faults. The threequel? I have tempered expectations, but I do want it to be good.
The original State Of Decay was at its best, for me, when you were rummaging through drawers for supplies in random houses while trying not to raise a racket and kick off a zombie wave. The new trailer for State Of Decay 3 puts the emphasis on emotive storytelling, with a character mulling over the past life of the ravening ghoul she’s about to slay. I feel like two sequels in is rather late to start realising that zombies used to be people, but the visuals and presentation are handsome in a way that might cause Naughty Dog to raise an eyebrow. Just an eyebrow, mind you. State Of Decay doesn’t have any characters with the star-power of a Joel or an Ellie.
By the sounds of things, building a base and partying up with other refugees of the zombie apocalypse are still the principle in-game activities, though there are hints of some kind of road trip. “Set years after a zombie apocalypse nearly wiped out humankind, State of Decay 3 is the next evolution in the State of Decay franchise,” reads some blurb. “As the zombie threat continues to claim lives, you must fight back and reclaim lost ground, carving out a life for your community of survivalist homesteaders.” It’s coming to Game Pass day one.
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